Determination of Microbial Diversity in Gouda Cheese via Pyrosequencing Analysis

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the microbial diversity in Gouda cheese within the four months of ripening, via next-generation sequencing (NGS). Lactococcus (96.03%), and Leuconostoc (3.83%), used as starter cultures, constituted the majority of bacteria upon 454 pyrosequencing based on 16S rDNA sequences. However, no drastic differences were observed among other populations between the center and the surface portions of Gouda cheese during ripening. Although the proportion of subdominant species was <1%, slight differences in bacterial populations were observed in both the center and the surface portions. Taken together, our results suggest that environmental and processing variables of cheese manufacturing including pasteurization, starter, ripening conditions are important factors influencing the bacterial diversity in cheese and they can be used to alter nutrient profiles and metabolism and the flavor during ripening.